Foresight

Summary: [The Future is never set, merely sensed.] In that courtroom, a choice is made. How will the Wizarding World react to Harry Potter when he starts questioning the way things are?

Hijacking the Kangaroo Court

Part One: Instinct

Chapter One: Hijacking the
Kangaroo Court

There is a relief in losing yourself to
hatred. In forgetting about the existence of that thing called mercy.
In drowning yourself to the cruelty of denying forgiveness. There is
a relief in these things that is seldom seen anywhere else.

However, Harry Potter had always found
it impossible to lose himself like he watched others do. He was
always aware, always knew, on an instinctual level, exactly how the
things around him, both those he instigated and those he didn’t,
would affect him, good or bad.

It was this knowledge that helped him
get through Quirrell’s murder – he had already come to the
conclusion that if he had to kill the person on the other side of
that magical fire that he wouldn’t feel regret for it.

Although, whether that was because he
said he had no reason to (as he and many others told him) or because
he couldn’t regret killing others to begin with (which he secretly
feared, despite knowing that Quirrell was already as good as dead
before Harry ever laid a hand on him in the first place) was
debatable.

However, this instinctual knowledge,
this ability to know when to intervene, even if he didn’t
know how to do so, had always been an unconscious decision...

Until now.

Damn that old man, Harry thought
to himself, sitting in a chair in the middle of a courtroom full of
adult wizards out for his blood. A chair usually reserved for the
worst criminal offenders.

Damn that old man to hell, Harry
thought again, glaring at said man, one Albus Percival Wulfric Brian
Dumbledore, Headmaster of Hogwarts, as the man made no real concerted
effort to do anything but throw sad glances his way and then avoid
his eyes when Harry looked at him.

Harry took a deep breath, and let it,
and any frustrations he had, out in a deceptively quiet exhale.

He looked down at his hands, thinking
to himself. Dumbledore was here as his defense, but he wasn’t
defending him. That meant he had to defend himself.

Really. Tell him something he hadn’t
heard before.

Now, how to get out of this situation?
Well, he supposed, the best place to start would be at what he knew
regarding the laws of the Wizarding World.

Sadly, that wasn’t as much as he
wished it was right now.

And what he did know wouldn’t help
him at all here, while taking a kangaroo court trial for Underage
Magic Use and breaking the Statute of Se...cre...cy...

Harry’s thoughts stuttered to a halt
before suddenly taking off in a completely new direction. His
thoughts churned, making plans, throwing out plans, debating with
himself, and wondering how he knew, when the plan was finished, in
all its glory within his mind, that it would work. And not
just because it had to.

Because instinct is intuition, and
intuition allows one to See, said a voice in the back of his
mind.

Harry didn’t really notice it – he
had never noticed it before, though it had always been there. This
time however, instead of the voice’s whispers just fading away into
his subconscious, the words were acknowledged on a slightly higher
level, just below that of truly conscious awareness.

It was there, though, to be found again
at a later time.

A time when he wasn’t busy with other
things, like he was right now.

“Excuse me?” Harry waited to be
acknowledged for a moment, before continuing on blithely. “I’m
afraid that I find myself confused here. I realize what I am on trial
for right now – using underage magic and the breaking of the
Statute of Secrecy – but that’s what’s confusing me, to be
honest. How can I have broken the Statute if my cousin, Dudley
Dursley, is the only one who was in that alley with me, besides
Dementors, and he is already aware of magic?”

“You are not on trial just for that,
boy –“ Fudge said, his face turning red. Harry wondered, for a
brief moment, if this man and his uncle were related, because the
colors were disturbingly similar.

“Like I said, I’m aware of that.
But, considering that most underage magic trials aren’t conducted
under a full Wizengamot trial like this, I am left with the only
conclusion left to me – that somehow my breaking of the Statute of
Secrecy has resulted in my being, not only tried as, but apparently
considered, for the second time now actually, an adult by
governmental authority figures. So tell me – how did I break the
Statute if the only Muggle present during my confrontation was
already aware of magic before the Dementor’s and my own
interference?”

“Quit with this foolish Dementor
rubbish, boy! Your lies are not going to get you anywhere!” Fudge
shouted in rage, spittle flying from his mouth.

Harry recoiled back into the chair,
affecting more shock than he truly felt at that moment, before
looking at the man as if fearful, and asking, “Are you okay,
Minister Fudge? I don’t think one with a station such as yours is
supposed to respond to a simple question with verbal abuse when an
answer would have been sufficient.”

Fudge’s face started to turn purple
in anger, but before he could continue, a voice interrupted. “Mr.
Potter, you mentioned that this is the second time that you have had
to deal with being considered an adult by governmental authorities –
what do you mean by that?”

Harry turned to see a blonde woman with
a severe face and monocle in one eye. He bowed his head respectfully
in her direction, unaware that he was, in fact, following etiquette
rules he knew nothing about. “You are aware that I participated,
unwillingly, in the Triwizard Tournament last year?” He continued
without waiting for an answer, since the question was mostly
rhetorical. “At the time when I requested to be allowed to simply
drop out, all of the authority figures in that room, which consisted
of two foreign headmasters, the Head of the Department of Magical
Games and Sports, and the Head of International Magical Cooperation,
as well as the Supreme Mugwump of the ICW, Chief Warlock, and
Hogwarts Headmaster, refused to allow me to, saying that I was going
to have to compete in a tournament that was restricted to only those
who were seventeen or older, and thereby saying that they considered
me to be an adult in my own right. Is that not so?” Harry turned to
look at the old man who was supposed to be defending him, only to
find said man staring at him in shock and – was that dismay?

Harry’s eyes narrowed for a moment,
wondering, for the first time, whether or not the old goat-fucker
hadn’t been unable to defend him properly, but instead
unwilling to defend him. If that was true, then that man was
one hell of an actor, because those sad glances that had been thrown
in his direction had been very convincing.

He was pulled back from his suspicious
musings by a voice asking him a question. “What is the point that
you are trying to make here, Mr. Potter?”

He turned back to see that ugly pink
toad lady looking at him nastily after having spoken.

“The point?” Harry said, raising an
eyebrow. “I should think the point would be obvious. You cannot put
me on trial for using underage magic – not only because doing so
would set a dangerous precedent, but also because I am considered, by
one of the highest authorities in this country, and some significant
authorities outside of it, to be an adult – therefore, I did not
use underage magic, I used magic. And as for the
breaking of the Statute of Secrecy, well, it can’t be any more
broken than it already was, seeing as I did not perform any magic in
front of anyone who did not already know about such things. I think
the real question you should be asking yourselves isn’t “How
can we arrest Harry Potter for doing magic?” but rather, “Why
on earth was Harry Potter doing magic in a Muggle area, magic that is
specifically meant to defend against Dementors?” After all,
casting a corporeal patronus takes a significant amount of magical
power, and, though I do not think using one would tire me out overly
much, I don’t consider myself powerful enough to just be casting
that spell around, willy-nilly, so to speak. Therefore, on must ask
themselves – why on earth would I have wasted such a large amount
of magic, if there was nothing there, hm? Or, at least, if
there was nothing there according to the Ministry?”

“I insinuate nothing,” Harry stated
flatly. “Merely point out the facts and ask questions. Or is that
now considered a crime?” He asked, raising an eyebrow. He narrowed
his eyes suddenly. “If this is how the British Ministry of Magic
treats its denizens, then I am ashamed to call this country home. Is
this the country my parents sacrificed their lives for? Quite
frankly, I see very little of worth, and I’m starting to wonder if
I shouldn’t just leave you all to your fate, here and now, and
Voldemort take you. After all,” and here, his eye glittered almost
maliciously, “just because you refuse to look at him doesn’t mean
that he isn’t after your neck.”

“Are you threatening us, Mr.
Potter?!” boomed Fudge, who had grown steadily paler during Harry’s
monologue before turning purple at the end of it.

“Of course not. Why on earth would
any one bother to threaten you, Minister?” Harry deadpanned. “Of
course I’m not threatening any of you. I was merely stating an
observation.”

“That evil can
only flourish when good people do nothing. And right now, I see no
one doing anything of consequence. After all, here we all are,
dealing with my underage magic trial – for which I sincerely
apologize for the inconvenience of – and yet, none of you, outside
of the Head for the Department of Underage Magic, should have to deal
with this trial. However,” here, Harry sighed sadly, as if to say
it’s unfortunate but we have no choice – I’m in the same
position as all of you, “when the Minister insists, what can us
citizens do but follow? I suppose the best option right now would be
to get this over and done with a minimal amount of hassle and
paperwork involved in the aftermath of it. Shall we vote now?” He
looked the Minister dead in the eye while sounds of approval rang
around the room. His face stayed neutral, but his eyes glittered
dangerously. “It seems we shall.”

Write a Review
Did you enjoy my story? Please let me know what you think by leaving a review! Thanks,
Genevieve Noling

ga1984:
I really enjoyed it! Characters were deep and plot was pretty complex. A bit on the violent side but it doesnt detract from the story. Very dark but situations make sense. Ends kinda abruptly and later chapters will need some editing work. I'm assuming there's more in the works?

Lauren Suzmeyan-Raine:
I'm so glad you found a place to post your stories. I was horrified when I saw yours had been taken down, they are definitely the best 'reading' stories I've ever read. And I've made it my business to read every one I can. Well done.Lauren

Deleted User:
This is a very clever story in the style of 19th century (and turn of the century) Gothic writing, very reminiscent of Stevenson's The Body Snatchers or even of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (less so of Frankenstein itself, since the author is more minimalist than Shelley's florid, Romantic rhetoric). ...

Ben Gauger:
Kudos to Bryan Laesch, author of Remnants of Chaos:Chaotic Omens for his use of the Gothic style of writing and in addition the footnotes and endnotes at the end of each chapter, a welcome accompaniment to be sure, though his use of grammar could use a little improving, but his use of punctuation...

Elizabeth Robbins:
4.5 starsAs far as apocalypse stories go, this one took a new direction. I'm glad someone finally addressed the need for a vampire apocalypse! This is sort of a multi-genre festival of delights. With hints of forced societies, vamps, hunters, romance, apocalypse, government conspiracy, and thrill...

FateFellShort:
I have read this story and have followed the writers on tumblr from the beginning. Its a wonderful story. Beautifully written with a really nice pace, that makes it enjoyable to read more than once. For me, fairy tail has very good characters but what the writers have done is give them more depth...

Hudson:
Your story was fantastic Erin! The Rising Sun was one of the first stories I read on Inkitt, and I have to say I don't regret the three to four days I spent pouring through the story.Probably the biggest strength I see in your writing is your characterisation of Eliana, Oriens, and the rest of th...

europeanlove:
I gotta hand it to you. I love reading. I read books everyday. When the book is good I can read it in probably 13 hours. Your story was amazing. Great prose, very imaginative. Incredible dialogue. I am deeply impressed. Keep it up.

summerstone:
Seriously this is one of the best books I've ever read. The plot is intriguing, I love the narrative style. Its very descriptive and unique, with minimal cliches. It makes for a great read and the sequels are amazing. Totally worth reading. ^^ That's me trying to be professional. But in all hones...

Steve Lang:
I thought this story was imaginative, and well thought out. I also think it was an original piece, and not a rehash of previous scifi stories I've read in the past.Thank you for the effort put into this tale, and I look forward to reading more of your work!

Felisa Yoder Osburn:
I really enjoyed the story. Civil War stories are some of my favorites and the intertwining of the past with current times was wonderful. I look forward to reading the next stories.

Nate_L:
This story is amazing. The style, the description, it all drags you in. The characters are mostly the well known characters from King Arthur. There's Merlin, the sword: Excalibur. I recommend reading this through, at least a little, as it's a very satisfying read. I added it to my reading list af...